Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Last night I was introduced to a wholly new concept in recruiting pain. SGT W^3 is currently processing a young lady, and to his credit she's very willing to join. However, she had a low EST and that mystical theory "They do better on the paper test" was put to the test.

Now, of the three people who tested at the MET site last night, only one passed. And it was her. Although her EST was in the 20s she came away with a 47. Yay for SGT W^3.

Through some cosmic joke though SGT W^3 wasn't available to take her home. Somehow, someway it became my task to take her home. Unlike the test given downtown the paper test takes the full three hours, and to get the predicted score the proctor has to grade them. By hand. A task which can take some time, and take some time it did.

At 2115 hours, 9:14pm for those not familiar with numbers greater than 12, I started driving to her back to her house. Her house is in Arlington, AZ. For those not familiar with the valley of the sun it's an hour away. An hour away in the middle of ranch land. I'm going off-roading in a Chevy Malibu. The drive out isn't bad actually. We get a chance to talk and I do my part. She's pretty aimless in life right now, her father's been telling her she should join the Army, and she's ready, so W^3 better be calling her ASAP.

The killer was the drive home.

Two separate times I came to a complete stop on the highway. Once for an accident which had traffic stopped for about three miles, and again for construction related to the new football stadium. I pulled in to my home at four minutes past midnight. All for a tester that wasn't mine. The late night, coupled with my 4 am wake-up so I can take my own guy downtown for the phys/AIMS/enlistment has me in a.... different... mood this morning.